FC Halifax Town: "You've just got to come back strong, that's all you can do" - Winger Allen on fitness, form and three years with The Shaymen

Town boss Pete Wild felt the winger was in his best form for the club since joining them in the summer of 2019 when he was forced off in the 1-0 win at home to Bromley on March 15 with what turned out to be a torn hamstring.

That game was Allen's sixth consecutive league start, with the forward playing his part in helping Halifax win five of them in what he feels was his best form for the club.

"I agree. Obviously me and gaffer have been together three years now and he'd mentioned that one of the big things for me was finding some consistency," Allen said.

"And I felt like I was finding some consistency and some form, so the injury came at a bad time.

"But it happens in football and you've just got to come back strong, that's all you can do really."

Allen feels being a regular starter in a team in form was a big reason for his purple patch.

"Being a footballer, the main thing is playing week in, week out and when you get a few games together and the team's doing well, the morale's high, everyone's doing well together, that helps you do well individually," he said.

"It wasn't just me doing well and finding form, it was the whole team as well, which helped me massively."

Allen says he didn't think his injury was a major problem at first.

"I didn't think it was bad at all," he said.

"We watched the video back and my leg didn't even go high. We just thought it was a bit of cramp.

"Then we went for a precautionary scan, thinking it's maybe just a grade one minimum, and it came back with the results it did, which was gutting.

"It was a shock to me and it was a shock to Az (Aaron Scholes, physio) as well because I walked off the pitch, and technically I shouldn't really have been walking, I should have been struggling to walk, so it was a shock to us all.

"But you've just got to come back stronger. Obviously the positive thing is I was walking and I was walking days after it, so there are positives and hopefully it's not as long as they thought."

The initial diagnosis was that Allen would be ruled out for the rest of the season, but the winger says he could make a return before then.

"The time scale's maybe about six to eight weeks, but everybody's body heals differently, it could be longer, it could be shorter," he said.

"I'm not going to put a time scale on it, we're just going to focus on the rehabilitation and take however long it takes.

"The first week or two if it happening, because there was so much damage and bleeding in there, we couldn't really do much, we just had to let it heal.

"But now I've started to do some exercises and we can start progressing that now in the gym.

"So the rehabilitation process has officially started now and I can crack on now and focus on that."

Allen is one of several Halifax players whose deals expire this summer.

"Of course yeah, obviously my contract's up in the summer, but there's nothing I can do about it really," he said.

"I've just got to focus on getting back fit and I'll have that conversation with the gaffer and see where we are, and we'll take things from there.

"But right now I can't worry about contracts, I've just got to worry about getting back fit, that's the main thing, and then that's a conversation to be had later."

Allen was signed by Jamie Fullarton from Dover in summer 2019, signing a new two-year-contract a year later.

He feels this is the best Halifax side he has been part of during his time at The Shay.

"Yeah, 100 per cent," he said. "This is the strongest team in the three years I've been here.

"I think the important thing we've got this year is depth in the squad, so we've got players on the bench who possibly could be starting, and players not even on the bench that are top players.

"They can all play, they can all get put into the starting 11 and do a job, they're more than good enough.

"That's really important, especially when we have injuries, we can put players in and we know they're going to do a job against teams, whereas in the last couple of years, maybe when we've had a few injuries, we've not really had the depth in the squad to be able to do that, so I think that's a massive thing."

And Allen has no doubts that The Shaymen are capable of going all the way in the race for promotion from the National League.

"Yeah, 100 per cent, we've shown that we can compete against anybody in this league, the top teams," he said.

"We can definitely compete in the play-offs, there's no reason why we can't, we've shown we can do it, we've beaten top teams.

"But we've just got to focus on getting points on board and going into the play-offs in some form.

"We don't want to go into the play-offs on the back of some losses or being a bit nervous, we want to build some momentum, go into the play-off games full of confidence, and I'm sure we will do."

When asked why he was so confident The Shaymen can achieve promotion, Allen said: "We've just different characters in the dressing room, we've got a lot of experience in the dressing room, we've got some young players coming through in the dressing room.

"So we've got a mix of everything, and that's really important because the young players are playing with no fear and then we've got the experienced players who they can look to.

"So it's just a mixture if everything, all coming together, that's massive."

Allen added: "We shouldn't really be going for the play-offs, but in the past three years, the gaffer and the team have done a fantastic job to be competing, not just one year, not just two years, but every year we've been competing.

"We missed out last year by a few points or whatever, but we've always been there competing.

"It just shows it's not always about the money, it's about a dressing room, it's about management.

"It's been a fantastic achievement, long may that continue."

It remains to be seen whether Allen will stay for a fourth season at Halifax, but the winger says he has loved his time at the club so far.

"I'd say it's been my most enjoyable time, under the gaffer and Milly," he said.

"They really understand how to manage players individually and as a team, and I think the way they go about the business is really good, and it suits me.

"Just every day on the training ground, they know when the lads need firing up, they get us up when they lads are not doing well, they just know how to manage players.

"Everything around the way they do things, it just suits me to a tee. I enjoy it.

"I think everybody who's played under Pete and Milly have matured and improved.

"Again, that's a massive statement on them really."